An app that tries to make picking up trash fun just got a $225,000 cash injection from the US government

Litterati is an app that encourages users to pick up
and track litter.

It has registered almost 1 million pieces of litter,
just received $225,000 grant from the US National Science
Foundation, and ran a successful Kickstarter campaign.

It was inspired by trash its founder Jeff Kirschner saw
dumped in a creek while out hiking with his kids.

SAN FRANCISCO - Jeff Kirschner has a discarded tub of cat litter
to thank for his business.

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A few years ago, he was hiking with his kids when they spotted it
dumped in a creek. "Daddy, that doesn't go there," his
then-four-year-old daughter complained.

"I know it sounds cliché, but for me that was the eye-opening
moment," he said. Today, he runs Litterati, an app that
"gamifies" picking up litter, letting users take photos of what
they've collected and track their environmental efforts.

And the company has now been awarded a $225,000 grant from the
National Science Foundation, a US government agency that funds
research and education projects, Kirschner told Business Insider.

"We're now literally a crowdsourced global community that's
cleaning the planet one piece [of litter] at a time," he said.

caption

The first piece of litter Jeff Kirschner picked up — a cigarette butt he posted on Instagram hashtagged #litterati.

source

Litterati

Litterati
has around 60,000 users Kirschner said, in 115 countries - who
collectively log about 10,000 pieces of picked-up litter a week.

It's small, but so is the team: There are just two full-time
employees, including Kirschner, and a handful of people
volunteering their time, including three engineers and a
community manager.

However, the two new sources of funding - the grant and the
Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign - may help accelerate things.

The Kickstarter just managed to hit its target - raising $51,432
after asking for $50,000 - and will invest the cash to beef up
its app.

And the National Science Foundation grant will also go towards
improving Litterati's tech, Kischner said: "It's an enormous
deal, we couldn't be any more thrilled."

The app plans to let users join groups, so that schools, clubs,
and other communities can track their collective efforts rather
than having to go solo. It will also introduce maps, so
litter-pickers can see what else is being picked up in their
neighborhoods.

The company has a wealth of data, which it already uses for
analysis. Second-graders in California mapped more than a
thousand pieces of litter on their campus to identify trends, and
the company has conducted an analysis of litter distribution in
San Francisco for the city, leading to an increase in taxes on
cigarettes. (Cigarettes are the second-most commonly tagged item
on Litterati, according to
its website.)

But Litterati now plans to more systematically try and analyze
the data on litter it is collecting - a likely major long-term
source of revenue to sustain the business.

"Can we provide insight as a service to cities so they can
understand exactly what's on their streets ... at any given point
in time?" the 46-year-old founder said. "Can we do the same with
brands? Can we help a brand understand what is your environmental
footprint for your packaging?"

caption

A map showing litter distribution in a school playground. Each pin is a piece of litter that was found by a user, and a plastic straw is highlighted.

source

Litterati.

The company doesn't currently have any public partnerships with
companies, though Kirschner said well-known brands have reached
out to it, including a "very well-known coffee company" asking
about the data Litterati holds on it.

"This is a massive problem," Kirschner said about litter. "It
impacts the economy, the environment, it degrades community
pride, it decreases property value, it kills wildlife, and now
with the plastic pollution in the ocean situation, it is
literally poisoning our food system."